Cochrane, Jean Crawford
Cochrane, Jean Crawford (1914–2013), educator and activist for women's education, was born on 27 June 1914 in Lifford, Co. Donegal, the eldest daughter of Hugh Crawford Cochrane, a solicitor and under-sheriff for the county, and Lucy Cameron Cochrane (née Boyd). Jean attended school…...
Comerford, James ('Jim') Joseph
Comerford, James ('Jim') Joseph (1901–88), nationalist, judge and parade organiser, was born on 7 January 1901 in the family home at Coolraheen, Muckalee, Co. Kilkenny, the only child of John Comerford, farmer, of Coolraheen, and his wife Julia (née Kavanagh), schoolteacher, from…...
Comyn, David
Comyn, David (1854–1907), Irish-language revivalist, was born 13 May 1854 in Henry Street, Kilrush, Co. Clare, only child of John Comyn and Mary Comyn (née Hassett). On leaving school, he joined the National Bank as a clerk and was based, for the most part, in College Green, Dublin.…...
Comyn, Michael (Micheál Coimín)
Comyn, Michael (Micheál Coimín) (c.1680–1760), prose writer and poet in Irish, was son of Patrick Óg Comyn, farmer of Kilcorcoran, Co. Clare, and Joanna Comyn (née Fitzgerald). Michael's grandfather lost a substantial freehold in five townlands of Kimacrehy parish during…...
Coneys, Thomas de Vere
Coneys, Thomas de Vere (1804?–51), Church of Ireland clergyman and first professor of Irish at TCD, was born in Galway, the first son of John Coneys, barrister, of Streamstown, Co. Galway. He was educated at the school of a Mr Whiteley and in October 1819 (aged fifteen) entered…...
Conlon, Sarah (née Maguire)
Conlon, Sarah (née Maguire) (1926–2008), campaigner, was born 20 January 1926 in the Falls Road area of Belfast, the daughter of Vincent Maguire and Mary Catherine Maguire; she had three brothers and three sisters. Sarah's life was dominated by work, family and religion. On leaving…...
Connellan, Owen
Connellan, Owen (1797–1871), Gaelic scholar, royal historiographer, and scribe, was born in Tireragh, Co. Sligo, son of a farmer. He claimed descent from the kings of Ireland through the chieftains of Bunnyconnellan in Mayo, and was most likely related to another nineteenth-century…...
Connellan, Thaddeus (‘Thady’)
Connellan, Thaddeus (‘Thady’) (Tadhg Ó Coinnialláin) (c.1780–1854), Irish-language scholar and scribe, was born at Corkhill, Templeboy, Co. Sligo. Little is known of his education except that he received instruction in the classics at a hedge school in Co. Clare. He…...
Connolly, Joe
Connolly, Joe (1922–2008), community activist and politician, was born 11 March 1922 at 5 Tolka Avenue, North Dock ward, Dublin, son of John Connolly, an engine driver, and his wife Esther (née McNally). Growing up in Lusk, Co. Dublin, and later in the East Wall area of the north-…...
Conolly, Katherine (Catherine)
Conolly, Katherine (Catherine) (c. 1662–1752), political hostess, landowner, and philanthropist, was the eldest child among four daughters and six sons of Sir Albert Conyngham (qv), later a Williamite general of ordnance, and…...
Conolly, Lady Louisa
Conolly, Lady Louisa (1743–1821), society woman and public benefactor, was born 5 December 1743, perhaps at Goodwood House, Sussex, fifth child of Charles Lennox , 2nd duke of Richmond, and his wife Lady Sarah Cadogan. After her parents’ deaths (1750, 1751) Lady Louisa and two…...
Conroy, Sheila (née Williams)
Conroy, Sheila (née Williams) (1918–2012), trade unionist, social activist and administrator, was born on 22 April 1918 (or 4 April 1917) in Bantry, Co. Cork, only child of Harry and Jane Williams. A Welsh petty officer in the Royal Navy, Harry Williams was stationed at Bantry (1914–…...
Coote, Charles
Coote, Charles (1712/13–1796), clergyman and philanthropist, was third son among six sons and one daughter of the Rev. Chidley Coote, DD, of Ash Hill, Kilmallock, Co. Limerick, and Jane Coote (née Evans). He was taught by Dr McDonnell of…...
Corkery, Daniel
Corkery, Daniel (Ó Corcora, Domhnall ) (1878–1964), writer, cultural philosopher, and literary critic, was born 14 February 1878 at Gardiner's Hill, Cork city, one of five children of William Corkery and Mary Corkery (née Barron). The Corkerys were of carpentering stock for four or five…...
Costello, Thomas Bodkin
Costello, Thomas Bodkin (1864–1956), medical doctor and antiquary, was born 4 February 1864 in Tuam, Co. Galway, son of Michael Costello, a shopkeeper, and his wife, Sarah Bodkin. His mother was a descendent of the Kilcloony branch of the Bodkin family, one of the original…...
Coutts, Angela Georgina Burdett
Coutts, Angela Georgina Burdett- (1814–1906), Baroness Burdett-Coutts, philanthropist, was born 21 April 1814 in Piccadilly, London, the youngest of the six children of the one-time radical politician Sir Francis Burdett (1770–1844) and his wife Sophia, daughter of the London banker…...
Cowley, John Ultan
Cowley, John Ultan (1923–98) actor and animal welfare activist, was born 8 September 1923 in Ardbraccan, Navan, Co. Meath, the third child of Patrick Cowley, a small farmer, and his wife Margaret. Educated at the local national school, he left at the age of thirteen to work on the…...
Coyle, James
Coyle, James (c.1838–1920), Gaelic scribe and national schoolteacher, was born in Co. Cavan, south of Lough Ramore, on the Meath border, son of Patrick Coyle (1790–1862), scribe, local poet, and farmer. Growing up in one of the last pockets of native Irish speech in south…...
Craig, Edward Thomas
Craig, Edward Thomas (1804–94), Owenite social reformer, was born 4 August 1804 at 49 Hanover St., Manchester, son of Joseph Craig (d. 1808) and his wife Elizabeth. Losing his father at the age of 4, he was fostered with his paternal grandparents in Lancaster till the death of his…...
Crawford, John
Crawford, John (1746–1813), doctor, medical publisher and public benefactor, was born 3 May 1746 at Ballytromery near Crumlin, Co. Antrim, second son among six children of Thomas Crawford (d. 1782), presbyterian minister and farmer, and Anne Crawford (née Mackay). His elder brother was…...
Crawford, William Horatio
Crawford, William Horatio (1812×1818–1888), brewer and philanthropist, was first-born son of William Crawford (d. 1840), brewer, and Dulcibella Crawford (née Morris) of Lakelands House, Blackrock, Cork; a brother died young. The family was originally from Co. Down, related to the…...
Crozier, Maurna
Crozier, (Rose Mary) Maurna (1942–2015), social anthropologist, was born in Belfast on 22 January 1942, the only surviving child of Robert Frizzell, the first general manager of the Northern Ireland Tourist Board (NITB), and his wife Molly (née Rands), a rosarian and the daughter of…...
Cuffe, Ellen Odette
Cuffe, Ellen Odette (1857–1933), countess of Desart, philanthropist, and senator, was born 1 September 1857 in London into a Jewish family, eldest daughter of Henri Louis Bischoffsheim (1829–1908), millionaire banker, and Clarisse Bischoffsheim (née Biedermann), and educated privately.…...
Cuffe, Otway Frederick Seymour
Cuffe, Otway Frederick Seymour (1853–1912), benefactor and Gaelic revivalist, was born 11 January 1853 in London, third and youngest son of John Otway O'Connor Cuffe (1818–1865), 3rd earl of Desart (an Irish title), and his wife, Lady Elizabeth Lucy Campbell (1822–1898), third daughter…...
Cullen, James Aloysius
Cullen, James Aloysius (1841–1921), Jesuit priest and temperance reformer, was born 23 October 1841 in New Ross, Co. Wexford, the eldest of five sons and three daughters of James Cullen, a businessman, and Mary Cullen (née Bolger). He was educated locally by the Christian Brothers…...